Surely Wellesley is making too ridiculous a parade, even for the taste of Paddy, when he talks of the _horror_, the _awful moment_, &c.; and when we consider that the King and his father have both had to encounter bullets, it is but in proper subordination that the piece of a rattle and of a glass bottle should be directed against the occupant of "_the throne on which he has been placed by the favour of his Sovereign_." Still it may be of use towards the suppression of the Orange Lodges, which I have great hopes will result from it. It has been proposed to extend the English Act against Secret Societies, to Ireland, with a view to some of the cases of conspiracy which they have been unable to deal with; and upon mentioning to Peel that that was the Act upon which the House of Commons in general agreed in 1813 to consider the Orange Association as illegal, I had much pleasure to see that he looked upon this as a recommendation rather than an objection. The conduct of Villele is to me quite inexplicable, nor can I conceive his motive for resorting to so offensive and irritating a step as the publication of a despatch (in itself calculated to provoke a war) immediately after he had triumphed over the war party, and their expulsion from the Cabinet. Ever most faithfully yours, C. WILLIAMS WYNN. CHAPTER XI. [1823.] CONTINENTAL AFFAIRS. DIPLOMATIC POSTS. PROPOSED MINISTERIAL CHANGES. MISSION OF LORD FITZROY SOMERSET TO SPAIN. STATE OF IRELAND. OBJECTS OF FRANCE. APPOINTMENT OF REGINALD HEBER. INCREASING POPULARITY OF MR. CANNING. THE KING'S SPEECH. TRIALS IN IRELAND. MR. PLUNKET. THE BEEFSTEAK CLUB IN DUBLIN. OBJECTIONABLE TOAST. THE DUKE OF CLARENCE. IMPRUDENCE OF LORD WELLESLEY. THE LORD-LIEUTENANT'S EXPLANATION. CHAPTER XI. Continental affairs were at this time attracting general attention throughout the British Empire, principally in consequence of the recently-published declaration from the Allied Sovereigns at the Congress of Verona, threatening interposition in the affairs of Spain, and the attitude of France with a view to the same object. To the new Foreign Secretary an opportunity presented itself for directing the policy of Great Britain in a manner worthy of the position she had acquired by her prodigious exertions in the last European war; and remembering the largeness of his professions when out of office, the political world waited with much eagerness the measures of this brilliant statesman to maintain the dignity of his country. Mr. Canning appeared sensible of the gravity of the threatened complication, but occupied himself much more in endeavouring to strengthen himself in the Cabinet than in developing a policy likely to realize the expectations of his admirers. THE RIGHT HON. CHARLES W. WYNN TO THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. East India Office, Jan. 3, 1823. MY DEAR B----,